Category: Transboundary Governance

The objective of the research project MIGRAFRICA (Determinants and drivers of migration in Africa) is to develop a regional overview of the main determinants and drivers of migration in SSA focusing on the structural causes of rural out-migration. It presents the main finding analytically and graphically in a working paper, an in-depth case study and an Atlas focused on the main migratory trends and drivers from, across and to SSA. The publications will be in both English and French.

This project is situated within debates on borders, borderlands, sub- and regional integration. It examines local, grassroots and non-state actors and their cross-border economic and sociocultural encounters and contestations. And the role they play in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and its integration project. The project also deliberately includes perspectives on borders, borderlands and integration in other world regions including Europe, Asia and South America. The aim is to not only enhance the understanding of Southern African borders, but also contribute to the attempts and formulations by scholars, policymakers, practitioners and ordinary people to make sense of the lines that seem to so easily separate and box people into mutually exclusive categories.

This project interrogates mobility issues affecting ordinary people and economically active human resources within and across the borders of Africa’s disparate states. It also explores the dynamics of cooperation and the governance of trans-boundary natural resources. This is in a quest to examine the relationship between the spatial mobility of borders and development, as well as the migration regimes within which states that share contiguous borders in given geographic territories are embedded.

The Africa-EU relations, migration, development and integration (AEMDI) project aims to bring into conversation leading academics, policymakers, political observers and practitioners from civil society to explore and examine intra-Africa migration on one hand and EU-Africa relationships vis-à-vis migration on the other hand. Efforts to integrate Africa, through the RECs, should, then, be informed by lessons and parallels drawn from across Africa, and chiefly, the integration experience of the EU—particularly the Schengen Area—in moving from free movement of labour (only) to EU citizenship, as enshrined in Article 20 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The main outcome of AEMDI is the promotion of the Jean Monnet Programme and adoption of best practices from the EU’s successes in regional integration, in Africa. AEMDI aims increased networking and expertise between/of academics, policymakers, professionals and relevant stakeholders in Africa and the EU. AEMDI responds to the need to promote development and well-being in Africa through, among other things, learned experiences from observed successes in EU integration.

This research project focuses on collecting information from citizens and civil society organizations, in addition to government officials and professionals working on migration issues in migrant communities. It aims to gather data from these “voices on the ground” through systemic research methods in four countries representing four regions of Africa: Senegal (West Africa), South Africa (Southern Africa), Mali (Sahel) and Ethiopia (Horn of Africa). It includes voices of civil society into the dialog on migration; establish a continuous migration platform, offering understanding of migration issues; establish a network among groups working on migration at regional level and beyond, at global level; discuss and develop long-term approaches on migration; develop policy recommendations for African decision makers; and develop specific recommendations for the EU-Africa partnership. focused on collecting information from citizens and civil society organizations, in addition to government officials and professionals working on migration issues in those communities.

This research investigates the activities of informal cross-border traders and migrants in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area, with a specific focus on the SADC region. It seeks to understand the contribution of these actors to the broader integration of the said regions. Special attention is given to persons living in the proximate communities, towns, etc. of the contiguous border areas of the countries that form the tripartite FTA.

The primary objective of this research project is to i) take stock of what the futures of governance could look like, ii) explore to what extent the use of anticipation and the development of futures literacy in governance can be by itself a governance innovation, and iii) explore and discuss implications for present and future governance of the future. It is also an applied research project whose second objective is to connect this knowledge generation process with empirical work, in dialogic way, with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Africa. For this purpose, it is designed to be a process of collective investigation involving i) people with a taste for future-oriented postures and interested in the issue of governance and ii) people facing governance issues who are interested in using the future.

A fuller description of the project can be seen in this draft concept note for building and engaging an extended peer community into this collaborative research project. It seeks to involve people who have future-oriented competences and an interest in governance innovation, or people who are working in the field of governance and have an interest in future-oriented approaches. It is a conceptual and action research with a special focus on Africa, on territorial development and on the SDGs.If you want to know more or/and you are interested in joining and contributing, please contact robin.bourgeois@cirad.fr.

The 15 member-state Southern African Development Community (SADC) started out in April 1980 as the Southern African Development Co-ordinating Conference (SADCC) and changed into SADC in August 1992. SADC aims at integrated regional development...

View image | gettyimages.com The EU is widely reported to be a global environmental leader and is party to the major international environmental agreements. However, apart from multi-lateral environmental negotiations, the EU’s seeks to...